"We wanted to make a sort of 'lowbrid' - a cross between a videogame and an album," says Super Furry Animals frontman Gruff Rhys. For years, the Welsh pop quintet has mixed the audio with the visual; on 2001's dystopian Rings Around the World, the band even had 18 directors (one per song) make short films for a DVD to accompany the CD.

On the new release, Phantom Power, the band didn't want the video to overwhelm the music. The Animals pursued fellow Cardiff native Pete Fowler, the man behind their past three album covers and the Monsterism line of collectible figures. Fowler created animated shorts for each of the 14 songs the band had recorded. Inspired by his work, the Animals then cut separate instrumental tracks for the shorts. Fowler returned to the original songs and crafted visual wallpaper that morphs and undulates while the tunes play. The end result: Fans can enjoy the album with the wallpaper, or the shorts with the ambient soundtracks.

In the tradition of British psychedelic rock groups since the '60s, the Animals have their roots in art school - Rhys studied fine arts, keyboardist Cian Ciaran film, and drummer Dafydd Iauen painting - but their aesthetic isn't exactly Pink Floyd. "I hate The Wall," says Rhys, who cites the Butthole Surfers as more of an inspiration. "I absolutely hate that shit."